By Clemente Lisi – NEW YORK, NY (Feb 5, 2018) US Soccer Players – Many North American cities are lining up to put on their best faces to win the soccer expansion sweepstakes. The recent addition of Miami, spearheaded by David Beckham, brings to fruition a promise MLS had made years ago.

MLS announced on Monday that Miami is officially an MLS expansion city. The David Beckham led bid includes building a soccer-specific stadium within Miami's city limits. The team will begin MLS play in 2020.

"Our mission to bring an MLS club to Miami is now complete, and we are deeply satisfied, grateful and excited," Beckham said.

The soccer news starts with reports out of Miami suggesting that David Beckham's expansion bid is finally coming to fruition. MLS is now expected to officially announce Miami as an expansion team on Monday. The team would play its first MLS season in 2020. Since this is MLS in Miami, there's already another story running parallel with the wait on the official announcement.

By Charles Boehm – WASHINGTON, DC (Dec 22, 2017) US Soccer Players - Three years ago Major League Soccer changed their logo. The progressive "brand identity" was built in particular around three stars arrayed in the upper left corner. The league let us know that the stars "represent the pillars of our brand: For Club, For Country, For Community.

By Jason Davis – WASHINGTON DC (Dec 22, 2017) US Soccer Players - Major League Soccer descended upon Nashville on Wednesday where they announced the 24th franchise. The mayor of Nashville, Megan Barry, the governor of Tennessee, Bill Haslam, and the lead investor in Nashville's MLS bid, John Ingram, joined MLS commissioner Don Garber in celebrating the news that first division professional soccer is coming to the Music City.

By Jeff Rueter – SAINT PAUL, MN (Dec 21, 2017) US Soccer Players - On Wednesday, Major League Soccer confirmed that Nashville would be joining the league as an expansion side. The announcement concludes a year-long formal pursuit for the Music City.

Just a few hours after MLS announced it wouldn't be naming a second expansion franchise until 2018, the Sacramento bid made public its steps to further solidify its bid.

Kevin Nagle, who is the leader of the Sacramento bid, released a three-step process in which he looks to strengthen the California capital's chances of finally being named an MLS franchise after years of work.

By Jason Davis – WASHINGTON DC (Dec 15, 2017) US Soccer Players - Thursday was supposed to be a big day in the race for the next two MLS expansion franchises. The cities of Cincinnati, Detroit, Nashville and Sacramento remained standing after a nearly year-long process that winnowed a dozen cities down to four.

By Jeff Rueter – SAINT PAUL, MN (Dec 7, 2017) US Soccer Players - With an ownership group boasting stars ranging from Mia Hamm to Magic Johnson to even Will Ferrell, it shouldn't come as a surprise that Los Angeles FC would buck some trends The team was the lucky winner of the multi-year Carlos Vela lottery, finally checking the boxes for the Mexican international.

By Luis Bueno – RIVERSIDE, CA (Dec 13, 2017) US Soccer Players - That sound in downtown Los Angeles of hammers and drills, the beep-beep-beep of cement trucks backing up is helping forge two things. LAFC's Banc of California Stadium offers such an array of noises, promising to leave in its wake a modern stadium that will certainly captivate LA.

By J Hutcherson (Dec 5, 2017) US Soccer Players - We all know the Seattle soccer success story. As the vanguard of the Pacific Northwest MLS expansion movement, the Seattle Sounders are the team that draws the biggest crowds. Portland might want to argue that they've got the best atmosphere in Major League Soccer, but Seattle has the stadium capacity.

By J Hutcherson (Nov 30, 2017) US Soccer Players - MLS has moved from a dozen to four expansion candidates with two spots available. The league confirmed on Wednesday that they'd pick those two expansion teams probably by the end of the year. It's the conclusion of a compacted process that started with ten cities and added two more.

MLS announced on Wednesday thatCincinnati, Detroit, Nashville and Sacramento have beennamed finalists for the two expansion slots set to be handed out in December. Owners and officials from all four bids are set to make a presentation to Don Garber in New York on Dec.

Robbie Rogers announced his retirement from professional soccer at the age of 30. He played for 11 seasons in three different countries. He most recently played four years with the LA Galaxy, winning the MLS Cup in 2014. He came out as gay shortly before signing with LA, making him the first openly gay player in one of the major American sports.

Good news has been hard to come by at points in the MLS expansion race, but there's plenty of it in Nashville.

On Monday, the Metro Council's Budget and Finance Commission voted 10 to three to back a $225 million plan to issue revenue bonds for the soccer-specific stadium project required for the expansion bid, according to The Tennessean.

Tuesday's soccer news starts with MLS expansion. Miami is now officially an MLS team while we wait on details like the name, badge, and colors. We do know that 2020 really is the start date, with Miami joining the league along with... uhm... Nashville? We've yet to get a start date for Nashville.

Trying to preview January USMNT friendlies always leans on the same broad topics. Inexperienced players getting time at full international level. Assessing those players in a lineup that might not feature many regular members of the squad. The strength of the opponent in a game played outside of a FIFA calendar window.

MLS made it official on Wednesday, adding Nashville as an expansion team. The team plans to build a stadium at the Nashville fairgrounds complex. MLS expects to name a second expansion team soon. Approval of the Miami expansion bid is also on the horizon, with an announcement potentially coming next month.

The soccer news starts with the news breaking across multiple outlets that MLS is expanding to Nashville. An MLS public event scheduled for Nashville later today would be a bigger surprise if it wasn't welcoming the city as an MLS expansion franchise.

Nashville will join a league that has made it clear that there's no expectation of struggling in an expansion market.

Friday's soccer news starts with the latest from the ongoing saga that is MLS expanding to Miami. We now know that the league is fine with the changes to the investor/operator group that will back David Beckham's MLS expansion team. With that settled and a stadium plan in place, the expectation is a quick conclusion to what has been a lengthy process to officially award a Miami MLS team.

There are four teams left in the MLS playoffs and we now know that there are four teams left for the next round of MLS expansion. Unlike the MLS playoffs, expansion will name two winners. At a Soccer Business Journal symposium on Wednesday morning, MLS commissioner Don Garber named Cincinnati, Detroit, Nashville, and Sacramento.

Friday's soccer news starts with the Austin, Texas city council passing a resolution to help find a city-owned site for a relocated Columbus Crew. The Austin American-Statesman's Kevin Lyttle has the details. Key to what Austin is doing is not committing city money to building a stadium and not limiting the potential relocated club to only the Crew.

All signs point to Nashville, Tennessee as the next MLS expansion city. MLS commissioner Don Garber will be in town on Wednesday for "an announcement", which can only mean the city is destined for admission into MLS.

The Music City was considered a dark horse early in the expansion race, but a combination of a cooperative local government working to formulate a stadium plan and the addition of wealthy investors helped propel them to the front of the line and, eventually, into the league.

Major League Soccer announced four finalists for the first round of two expansion slots to be announced next month. Sacramento, Nashville, Cincinnati, and Detroit will all make their final pitches to the league on Dec. 6, before the Board of Governors meets to discuss each city's credentials eight days later.

The Nashville Metro Council officially approved mayor Megan Barry's $275 million MLS stadium financing plan by a large margin. The council voted 31 to 6 in favor of the measure, which allows for $225 million in bonds to be issued to raise the necessary funds.

MLS has heard all it needs to hear in order to make its decision on its next two franchises.

Representatives of the four finalists for MLS expansion were in New York on Tuesday to make their final presentations to Don Garber and the MLS expansion committee. Each of the bids had several hours to impress the league with stadium plans, market sizes, and anything else they could present to strengthen their case.

Hewlett Packard CEO Meg Whitman and her husband Griffith Harsh have rejoined the bid's investment group after initially appearing to back out, This news comes at a key time as Sacramento, and the other three MLS expansion finalists, are making their final presentation to Don Garber and the MLS expansion committee this afternoon in New York.

Toronto Coach Greg Vanney felt he needed to clarify his prior remark questioning whether the Sounders were "ready for the intensity of an MLS Cup final." Reportedly "miffed that his previous comments gained such traction" Vanney said they were "probably not well-articulated in the moment.

After several days of reports, the league announced on Wednesday that Nashville has been recognized as the league's latest expansion franchise. Nashville is the first of two expansion cities set to be recognized in this round with Sacramento, Cincinnati and Detroit still in the running.